The boulders that had been hurled down from above came to an abrupt halt. The imperial army vanished without a trace.

“Your Highness!” A dragon knight on a flying dragon landed beside Ariel and dropped to one knee. The flying dragon that should’ve been quietly standing behind its rider suddenly let out a sharp cry, acting strangely as it tried to wrench free from the knight’s reins.

Thinking his partner was just rattled from the earlier battle, the dragon knight hurriedly stroked the dragon’s head, trying to calm it down.

The flying dragon’s body was trembling. Faced with the terrifying aura leaking off Michail, it was already on the verge of breaking down.

Michail frowned slightly and quietly shuffled two steps away. Little guy, don’t overreact so much…

Dragonkin instincts really were scary. He was clearly doing his best to suppress his mana.

“Zera—save Zera first!” Ariel grabbed Michail’s hand and led the several dragon knights who had just landed to help push the boulder away.

Michail only pressed his palm lightly against the rock, pretending to help. He didn’t dare use any real strength. Otherwise, the stone would crumble into powder right in front of everyone’s horrified eyes.

Though, speaking of which, the hand Ariel had just held still carried a bit of warmth. It had been a long time since Michail last felt that comfortable human body heat.

The logistics priests who’d rushed over had already surrounded Zera, working to stop the bleeding. They were all shocked to find that the wounds on Zera’s body were already scabbing over. It was the first time they’d seen healing that fast.

Zera’s face was deathly pale, but he was definitely breathing. Ariel’s terrified heart eased a little.

“Your Highness,” the scouting dragon knight finally got a chance to speak, “the imperial army… is gone…”

“What do you mean, ‘gone’?” Ariel was confused.

The dragon knight shook his head, forcing himself to recall what he had just seen. “Something wiped out the entire imperial army in one strike. We couldn’t see what it was clearly.”

The dragon knights looked at each other. Just thinking about what they’d seen sent a chill down their spines.

Jet-black feathers. Wings beyond counting. And a pool of flowing blood at its feet.

“Was it a monster?” Ariel asked. In recent years, the Lyon Empire had grown arrogant and overbearing, making enemies everywhere. It was only natural they’d piss off some powerful demons.

The dragon knight nodded almost without hesitation. For now, deciding “it was a monster” was the most accurate judgment they had. It was just that they had never seen that kind of monster before.

But Leny’s side should’ve been wrapped up already… Michail sighed inwardly. Leny’s efficiency was always that high. Compared to that, he hadn’t even gathered a scrap of intel on this other world.

“The King of Hell.”

Hmm? Leny taking the initiative to contact him with neural magic—that was a first. Was she reporting in on the mission?

“Go ahead, little Leny.” Michail was in a good mood. He was quite satisfied with this other world. Aside from being a bit weak, the variety of species and the richness of resources were all very pleasing.

Michail himself probably didn’t notice that the casual “little” he’d added to Leny’s name instantly made her cheeks flush red.

Her voice wavered; she was clearly nervous as she spoke.

“I–I, um… when I was killing the green caterpillars just now, I, um, picked up… picked up one of their army’s commanders…”

The way she was talking turned hesitant and halting. If not for the familiar mana he could sense through the neural magic, Michail would’ve doubted whether this cutesy tone was really coming from his six-winged fallen angel subordinate.

Leny did look a bit cute, but she usually spoke very properly. On top of that, she was a pure, unadulterated slaughter-type six-winged angel. This kind of adorable tone just didn’t match her at all, okay!

Michail once again suspected the person talking to him wasn’t Leny at all—but that familiar mana belonged to no one else.

“Ahhh, it’s fine, it’s fine, my King!”

“What exactly happened?” Michail was completely in the dark.

“The commander I captured alive died… I accidentally hit him with my wing just now…”

Leny spoke like she was walking on thin ice. She’d originally wanted to bring back a live captive so the Demon King could get better intel on the other world. But she’d gotten a little excited and flicked him with her wing, and who knew he’d be so fragile—he just fell apart from a light tap. Leny spiraled into endless regret…

All that just because the Demon King put a ‘little’ in front of her name and she totally freaked out! How embarrassing!

Also, did adding “little” count as a nickname? Or maybe… a pet name?!

On the ninth layer of Hell, the six-winged fallen angel was wildly flapping her wings, darting around the vast hall like a headless fly.

Her small hands were pressed over her burning cheeks, and she had no idea where all this shyness was coming from.

Ah—

When Leny’s gaze accidentally drifted toward the Demon King’s throne, she let out an even shriller scream and bolted out of the hall.